However, rendang, a popular meat dish, has been identified as one of the Minangkabau food culture characteristic dishes. Meat, especially beef and chicken, is mainly prepared for special occasions pork is not halal and therefore not eaten by Muslim Minangkabau people and for reasons of taste preference and availability, lamb, goat and wild game are rarely eaten. Rice, fish, coconut and chilli are the basic ingredients of the Minangkabau meals.

Minangkabau culture is matriarchal and matrilineal which accounts for female gender dominants in the discussions. The members of the discussion groups were principally women aged from 35 to 82 years old. To obtain in-depth opinions about the food culture of Minangkabau people, focus group discussions were conducted in a Minangkabau region, represented by four villages in West Sumatra, Indonesia, from January to March 1999. Diet has a strong relationship with food culture and changes in it are likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of newly emergent degenerative diseases.

Sumatra coconut beverage